A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

A Break from All That “Inside Baseball Stuff”

Guess what.

I’m baaaack.

Indeed, after that long and winding baseball-politico season and the ominousness of losing every dime I’ve ever saved due to the current worldwide economic crisis, I deserved a damn vacation.

And vacation I did.

I turned off the phone. Eschewed the interweb. Relaxed under the sun. Got tan. And I did it with family — Lung Family Reunion style.

Which reminds me, don’t you just hate when you meet the perfect girl and you hit it off right away — so much so that you spend the entire day with her into the evening through the night and find out the next day that she’s your cousin?

Happens to me every year.

But that’s not what I want to focus on today. No. You see, dear readers, while on my vacation, I missed out on some very important happenings: like Gov. Sarah Palin‘s adamant cry to NBC’s Matt Lauer that during the campaign she never got involved with that “inside baseball stuff” that supposedly divided her camp from Sen. McCain’s.

Look, I don’t even pretend to know what she meant by calling it “inside baseball stuff” seeing how it had absolutely nothing to do with baseball; however, I can appreciate her obviously sentimental regard for greatest game on earth and implying that indeed, it’s complicated.

Because it is.

The coast is clear now, but how is it that the Cardinals were even considering a trade for Matt Holliday? A trade that would send away at least two (maybe more) of our most talented youngsters and leave us with a one-year rental of a player represented by Scott Boras? Has John Mozeliak officially lost his friggin’ mind?

The answer to that question is yes and I’m quite sure we St. Louis fans haven’t even seen the beginning of it. Stock up on the painkillers, folks; 2009 could be a long one.

And how is it that Lou Piniella received the Manager of the Year Award? Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing but respect for Sweet Lou and I admire his guile, but this year he did what he was supposed to do (sorta) which was manage an extremely talented, high-priced ball-club to a winning season. That’s like me getting rewarded for drinking beer and watching football on Sundays. That’s what I do, people!

The Cubs were on cruise control all season until October and Lou didn’t have to work nearly as hard as the likes of Tony LaRussa or Joe Torre to get the job done with less talent.

The one thing Lou was supposed to do this year (win playoff games) never happened. I see that as one thing and one thing only: failure. F-A-I-L-U-R-E.

On the other side of the Second City (my side), complications arise with Jermaine Dye and his future in a White Sox uniform. Rumor is: Kenny Williams wants to get some fresh legs in exchange for the veteran outfielder who had a resurgent season in 2008. I understand Williams’ point of view, but I’m pretty sure there will be rioting in the streets if Dye is traded away. Even more rioting if Big Fat Bobby Jenks is dealt (which is also floating around the rumormill).

Just let me know if and when that’s going to happen, Kenny, because I’ll make sure to be back in South Padre until the Southside firebombing lets up.

I suppose Gov. Palin was right. This “inside baseball stuff” is complicated. And I gotta hand it to the Republicans. They ran a good laughable race. And the tides seem to be turning for the GOP: Mark Foley, while still making excuses for his pedophilia, is at least speaking to the media again; Alaska has more problems than just Palinmania; and Norm Coleman has a 209 vote lead (as I write this).

7 Comments

Well, Jane, on that front all I can say is: He’s your problem now. That .219 BA isn’t much to write home about. Maybe if he lets his hair grow back like he did in Oakland… Samson reference anyone?
–Jeff

Sarah will not…go…away….
I think we’re all better off if the narrowly focused, Christian-right, family values, interfering in everyone’s life republicans continue clutching at the mantle; let ‘em fight, who cares? And all the talk of the lovely Sarah running for president in 2012 as the standard-bearer is almost as absurd as the calls for NEWT GINGRICH to run in 2012. Yeah, you run Newt; see what happens. And I happen to believe that as many off-the-wall things Gingrich says and sleazy things he’s done, he says some things that are absolutely brilliant, but outside the Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity sect, people DO NOT LIKE Newt; they just don’t like him because he’s sleazy; because he’s obnoxious; because he’s a hypocrite; because of whatever; so you put him up there against Obama and see what happens in 2012. The only way either Palin or Gingrich have a chance at the nomination is if the GOP sees that they’re gonna lose and don’t wanna waste Bobby Jindal or whoever as the nominee.
RE: the cousin thing? I’ve been wanting to work this into a blog, but never got around to it—-Rudy Giuliani married his second cousin, so there’s a precedent if you’re so inclined. And I wanted to retort to Rudy’s ridiculing of PRESIDENT-ELECT Obama’s work as a community organizer by saying, “Who’s Rudy to say anything about what a guy like Obama, who could’ve gone to work in the corporate sector out of law school and made a fortune, but instead chose to give back to his community? Rudy’s main accomplishment (if you wanna call it that) at a similar time in his life, was that he married his cousin!!! Personally, I prefer the community organizer than a guy who’s trolling family reunions looking for dates.http://paullebowitz.mlblogs.com/

I was not “trolling family reunions looking for dates”. Ha! Love it. I agree with you on all points, Prince. Rudy has been dead to me ever since his Red Sox endorsement… before then… actually ever since that SNL spoof with his kid (Chris Farley) jumping in the background. As for the GOP, they’re just a bit crazy right now. Palin has no future in politics unless the country swings to the overzealous Christian right. If that ever happens I’m moving back to China. I’d rather have limited human rights than be judged and ordered around by a bunch of loudmouth hypocrites.
–Jeff

vacation… would love to have one of those.
LMAO about your cousin.
Though the thought of Palin a step away from the most powerful position we have scared me… looking back, gotta say, it was pretty hilarious don’t cha know. She did accomplish one thing though: reminded people that Alaska is indeed a state [even though we still don’t care about it].
p.s. another thing tupac said that palin should’ve listened to: “Recollect your thoughts don’t get caught up in the mix, cause the media is full of dirty tricks.” If the whole thing about her not knowing that Africa is a continent was true, another reason to laugh out loud and be very afraid at the fact that she and mccain weren’t slaughtered in the popular vote.
V – http://flairforthedramatic.mlblogs.com

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